After the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War in 1775, the Claus and Johnson families lost their substantial land holdings in New York and were forced to relocate to Canada as Loyalists.

[3] Like other members of the Johnson family, Ann Claus had a close relationship with the Six Nations, particularly the Mohawk among whom she grew up.

As a mark of respect for the services of her husband and father, the Six Nations of the Grand River gifted her a plot of land in Newark on December 31, 1799.

Joseph Brant gave her the honorific title "elder Sister of the Six Nations, and Daughter to our old Friend Wanighjage".

Not only did her marriage link two important Indian Department families, Ann Claus occupied a similar diplomatic position as other prominent contemporary women, such as Molly Brant and Catharine Croghan, as a link between Indigenous and British society on the early American frontier.